DOJ, Trump strike murky deal in FBI informant spat

Under pressure from President Donald Trump, top Justice Department officials have agreed to review highly classified information with congressional leaders connected to the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The decision to share the information came after Trump met at the White House with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray and asked them to turn over to Congress and his own legal team all of the memos they have about an FBI informant who made contact with his 2016 campaign.

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The White House also acknowledged that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz would review allegations by Trump allies that the president's campaign was inappropriately surveilled in 2016, though Democrats and Justice Department defenders have called the allegations cynical attempts to undermine the ongoing probe of Trump campaign contacts with Russians. DOJ announced the new investigation on Sunday, and the White House affirmed it in a statement Monday afternoon.

“Based on the meeting with the President, the Department of Justice has asked the Inspector General to expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump Campaign," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement after the meeting.

Sanders added that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly will confer with national security leaders and Congress "to review highly classified and other information they have requested.”

But the breadth of the agreement — and what information, exactly, might be provided — was not immediately clear. The Justice Department had previously indicated that sharing details about its informant could risk lives and endanger national security. It's also unclear who will be permitted to view the documents. The Justice Department typically shares its most sensitive information with the so-called "Gang of Eight" — the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, as well as the Republican and Democratic leaders of each chamber's Intelligence Committee.

On his way back into Justice Department headquarters, Rosenstein declined to answer questions about the meeting.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the documents requested by Trump will "indicate what the informant found." He also said the memos "should be made available to us on a confidential basis," he added. "We should be at least allowed to read them so we know this exculpatory evidence is being preserved.” It's unclear if there were any arrangements made for the White House to view the documents.

Trump’s lawyers also want to interview the FBI officials who made the decision to connect the informant with the campaign.

“It’s the FBI who has the onus for having invaded the campaign,” Giuliani said.

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Giuliani predicted the Justice Department would place redactions on some parts of the material.

“But as long as they turn over the vast majority of it, it gives you a real sense” of what the FBI was doing. “The question is, 'What are the justifications for it? Did the justifications continue? Did they pick up anything valuable?' That’s the most important thing to do. We think they didn’t.”

It's unclear whether Rosenstein and Wray agreed to any disclosures that would breach long-standing DOJ precedent against revealing information about secret sources and ongoing investigations.

Justice Department officials have previously argued that such a disclosure to lawmakers would endanger national security and risk lives.

But Republicans on Capitol Hill demanding the information have rejected that contention and accused Justice officials of stonewalling. The confrontation was, until Trump's involvement, defused after calls between the White House, DOJ officials and top lawmakers. On Sunday, Trump demanded that the Justice Department look into whether the FBI "infiltrated or surveilled" his campaign for political reasons.

"I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!" the president wrote on Twitter.

Trump’s call for an investigation was met with eager support from some factions on Capitol Hill.

“This is the right call from @realDonaldTrump--we've seen disturbing evidence that the FBI engaged in political targeting,” tweeted Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who has led the congressional calls to investigate DOJ over the Russia probe. “But the DOJ can't be trusted to investigate themselves--Congress needs the documents too. Rod Rosenstein: where are the documents? Show Americans the truth.”

A group of 16 GOP lawmakers also prepared Monday to roll out a resolution to condemn FBI and DOJ officials for what they claim to be “misconduct” at the highest levels of the agencies.

But law enforcement experts and intelligence-focused Democrats have countered that the use of informants is common in counterintelligence investigations. They warn that Trump and his allies in Congress are risking the erosion of years of trust that law enforcement has spent establishing trust with its informants.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described Monday's agreement as "highly irregular and inappropriate" and called on the White House to include Democrats in any meeting about the classified details "in order to serve as a check on the disturbing tendency of the president’s allies to distort facts."

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Giuliani's remarks betrayed the true intentions of Trump's attempt to force details about the FBI informant into the open.

"Giuliani removes all doubt — the White House effort to force DOJ to give investigatory materials to Congress is really about the defense team getting their hands on them," Schiff said. "If the president is charged with a crime, he has a right to see the evidence. Not before."

In anticipation of Trump’s order, the Justice Department has worked quickly to contain confrontation, preemptively announcing that the agency's inspector general would tack on Trump’s investigation request to his ongoing probe of potential surveillance abuse by the FBI — a probe that was launched based on previous demands by Trump allies.

“That’s going to be released," Giuliani told POLITICO. "It's already been circulated to people who have made significant comments. Everyone is anxiously awaiting it because it’s expected to be quite a knockout.”

In an interview on Fox News, Vice President Mike Pence said the president was "grateful" for the inspector general probe.

Giuliani, who is in Arizona on Monday and did not plan to be a part of the White House meeting, said he was unfazed by any potential fallout from the president upping the pressure on DOJ leaders.

The Trump lawyer said one of his reasons for supporting the president's actions stemmed from several media outlets that have reported on the informant’s interactions with the Republican’s 2016 campaign, including a New York Times story last week about the first incarnations of the Russia investigation — dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane” — in the thick of the White House race.

He also singled out the Wall Street Journal, which on Sunday named the informant.

“It doesn’t trouble me that the president of the United States thinks that his Justice Department was acting inappropriately if they didn’t release to Congress information about what was done without identifying sources,” Giuliani said. “This can’t be earth-shattering, end-of-the-republic information. What would happen that’d be ugly?”

Several high-profile former Justice Department officials have taken the exact opposite stance.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder on Twitter Monday challenged the president over his foray into the details of the underlying Russia probe.

“Trump demand for DOJ investigation is dangerous/democracy threatening," the former Obama appointee wrote. "DOJ response is disappointing. There is no basis/no predicate for an inquiry. It's time to stand for time honored DOJ independence. That separation from White House is a critical part of our system."